January Jones' rise to stardom in Hollywood seems like a plot for a movie, even her name does not seem real. But she really was christened January Kristen Jones. The fact she was born on January 5th 1978 was just a coincidence, because she was actually named after a character in Jacqueline Susann's novel "Once is Not Enough" January Wayne.
She was doing the all American job working as a counter girl at Dairy Queen after school and one day when she was out shopping she was spotted by a model scout. She left her hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota at the age of 18 to pursue a modelling career in New York. She has since said that it was the first time in her life she had ever been on a plane.
Moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting she first appeared on television in 1999 in the TV film "Sorority".
Jones spent years in Hollywood smiling through role after role as "Babe number 4" before finally being cast in the role which was to make her a star Betty Draper the most complex, mysterious woman on television. She was the trophy wife in the AMC original television drama series "Mad Men".
She first rose to fame in the movie world playing Cadence Flaherty in the third instalment of the American Pie comedy film series, "American Wedding".
When she first moved to Los Angeles she started dating actor Ashton Kutcher but she split with him because he was not supportive of her acting career. She said he told her "I don't think you are going to be very good at this."
She went on to date singer Josh Groban for three years before they split, and SNL star Jason Sudeikis who previously dated Jennifer Aniston.
January Jones is now one of the hottest stars in Hollywood and she blames the paparazzi for a car accident she had in June 2010. She was driving a Range Rover around 9pm when she lost control of her vehicle and hit three parked cars.
Some bystanders witnessed the accident and reported it to the police, but she told a witness she couldn't deal with the commotion and she drove off. She went home and changed her clothes before returning to the scene when the police arrived.
She told them she had lost control because she was being chased by photographers and she was not fined or arrested for fleeing the scene of a crime.
She prefers to select roles that are completely different from her life and she described one modelling job where she had to jump in the air for eight hours on a trampoline just wearing lingerie, when they finally got all the shots they needed her legs were beginning to buckle.
In 2011 she became the face of Versace's Spring/Summer campaign and the photographs will be taken by veteran fashion photographer Mario Testino. She struck up a friendship with creative director Donatella Versace on a magazine shoot ion 2009 but she does not think that had anything to do with her getting the job.
January Jones has also been cast in the role of Emma Frost in the X-Men spinoff, "X-Men First Class" which will be directed by Matthew Vaughn.